Bea Fields Companies USA provides leadership coaching and training to over 1000 local and global business leaders. In addition it provides Generation Y Training,executive coaching ,executive leadership coaching program and team Coaching programs.

B is for Bold Vision

As a leader, how many times have you articulated a big vision only to look back 10 months later to see that the vision was just a pipe dream…still sitting on your desk just waiting to “happen?”

This story is all too common…the CEO or President of the company has a big vision…a vision that will change the company or even the local and greater community. He inspires the followers and everyone in the company gets a thrill and excited and then “poof”…there goes the magic. Real life sets in, and the vision simply drifts away into never never land.

Why does this happen? Well…I have a few ideas, and here they are:

1) The leader gets bogged down in the day in day out details of pushing paper, responding to e-mails and putting out fires.

Solution: Delegate out the above details and papers, and dedicate two hours each day to making sure the vision begins to “live” in the organization. This is mission critical for your organization, and it should take the front seat on your agenda.

2) The leader feels and then assumes the full responsibility for making the vision come alive.

Solution: Get at least seven people in the organization on your “vision team”…this is a joint effort, and at the end of the day, your job is to get everyone in the organization to buy into the vision and get them on board. You cannot do this alone…you need a group of influencers out in the company talking to people about the vision and how to make it come alive.

3) Lack of focus.

Solution: It is so easy to have multiple projects on your desk at one time or to get distracted by who or what walks in your door. If the vision is not front and center, it is very easy to get distracted. Each time a new project comes to your desk, it should go below the vision…if the vision is not at the top of your list, it will get back-burnered. Stop putting out fires and stay focused!

4) A team of “old school” thinkers who are nay-sayers.

Yep…you are going to have this. When a new vision is articulated, and change starts to happen, the “old school” thinkers are going to get frightened. They don’t like change, they think they know “how we do things around here”, and they will start a political approach to stop the vision dead in its tracks.

Solution: Develop out the political savvy you need to get your nay-sayers on board. Show them how this will benefit them both individually AND from the bigger perspective of team and company success. Acknowledge them for the wisdom they have, and ask for their contributions, based on the skills you KNOW they can bring to this effort. If you can’t get them on board, maybe it’s time for them to move on.

5) Lack of talent development.

This will forever be an issue until leaders truly “get” that training and development in the domains of leadership, technology and business skills are critical for a vision to come alive.

Solution: Implement a reverse mentoring program inside your organization that pairs people in a way that they can stretch and grow.

6) Unwillingness to accept change.

This goes back to number 4 just a bit, but it’s much bigger. At the end of the day, the entire organization is “stuck”…stuck in the past and afraid to move into a new era.

Solution: Take a smaller part of the vision and implement this first. If you push a big vision with multiple moving parts onto a stuck organization, they may freeze. In this case, small doses can go a long way. Once the organization gets accustomed to making small changes, you can then start zooming ahead in the direction of your vision.

7) Stress and Fatigue

It is not uncommon for leaders to just “give up” on the vision…it’s not worth it due to the stress and fatigue that builds over time.

Solution: Take great care of your personal health. Sleep well, eat well, exercise, skip the alcohol and take time off to recharge your battery. For the exercise you can get one of those machine that help you exercise like the one at Top9 Rated Best Full Body Vibration Platform Machines For Weight Loss. You are going to need a fully charged battery to walk back in the door tomorrow and rally your team to move forward.

If you or your team are ready to make a big vision happen, I encourage you to e-mail me at bea@beafields.com. I would love to talk with you for 15 minutes to learn more about what you want to achieve and how I can help..